Bright Yellow

Yet another miserable, rainy, bone-chillingly cold Melbourne night that would have been better spent rugged up in bed with a block of chocolate and some girly trash television. Instead, I braved the weather and toddled off to The Evelyn in Fitzroy to check out the musical stylings of New South Wales natives Bright Yellow.

Bright Yellow took to the stage as soon as the doors opened. I was very glad none of them were actually wearing yellow. The boys played one song and then took a break to grab a beer. They sounded very wannabe-grunge, with a lot of guitar solos going on and a rather average vocalist.

I am a fan of the original grunge movement and am sceptical of these revivalist bands, particularly in the case of Bright Yellow, who didn’t look old enough to have been out of diapers when Kurt Cobain left this earth. In spite of this, I did stick around for the entire duration of their set, which thankfully was brief. After finishing their beer break, the boys returned to the stage, which inspired one overly excited chick at the back of the empty band room to break out the wolf whistles.

Their music involved some heavy guitars and a driving rhythm section, which weren’t unenjoyable, but as far as live performances go, Bright Yellow put on a lacklustre show. They barely moved onstage, spent a lot of time looking at their feet, and didn’t interact with each other or with the few people in the audience that made the effort to come and see them.

There was nothing particularly special or exciting about their sound either. It was basic grunge rock, not done anywhere near as well as their predecessors and it was difficult to tell one song from another, as they all sounded exactly the same. Their singer's angst-ridden screams really grated on my nerves as he belted out some awful lyrics- and I quote: “maybe it's time to share your body with another, let your love be discovered”. Be sure to note that golden line down to try your luck with it next time you’re chatting someone up at the pub.

At the very least, the boys in Bright Yellow seemed focused on their playing and really into the music they were creating, but when you’re up on stage, you do need to make an effort to entertain the audience. Especially when they are unfamiliar with your work and your music isn’t strong enough to stand up on its own. Standing stock still and shuffling your feet around the stage does not make for interesting viewing. Nor does adolescent, lustful whining make for interesting listening.

The highlight of the set was when it was over and Bright Yellow were packing up their equipment. Their singer decided he needed to wear his sunglasses inside, at night time, in order to get that done. Which made me giggle a lot.

These guys are touring the nation with British India throughout spring, so I guess they have a few fans out there somewhere, I’m just not one of them.

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